1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to roof construction and more particularly to batten-type roof construction and means for securing the same.
2. Prior Art
In a common type of roof construction, elongated members known as battens are secured to the roof parallel to the slope at spaced intervals. Roofing sheets extend between and overlap the battens and are held in place by cap strips secured to the battens. This arrangement not only provides a water-tight seal between the roofing sheets, but serves to divert and control the flow of rainwater toward the eaves. U.S. Pat. No. 2,885,974 discloses such a roof construction in which the battens are held in place along the slope of the roof by screws inserted through a base portion outside of the vertically extending flanges forming the side walls of the batten. The roofing sheets between the battens are bent upward and over the top of the batten side walls and are held in place by a cap strip secured by bolts threaded into sliding nuts engaged by opposed internal flanges on the side walls of the batten. Water which seeps over the raised edges of the roofing sheets through the bolt apertures into the cap strip is diverted to the eaves by the water-tight channel formed by the base and upwardly extending flanges.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,147, a similar type of batten is held in place over insulating material by batten bearing members secured by fasteners which pass through the insulation into the roof substructure with the edges of the batten bearing members bent back over the outwardly extending flanges along the lower portion on either side of the batten.
In larger structures with slopes of extended length, it has been found that much higher battens must be provided to control and divert the large amount of water that must be shed by a roof during a heavy rainstorm. Improved means are needed for securing these larger battens in place while maintaining a water-tight seal. The improved means for securing the battens must also accommodate for the sizable changes in longitudinal dimensions brought about in the battens of extended length by variations in temperature.